[thd] [Lilienthal] 'Cause though the truth may vary... [Meike]

This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore.

After the protest Mihaela had followed Meike back home for a sleepover, she had the whole weekend off and seeing where Meike and her brother had grown up sounded way better than seeing yet another pudgy American student with their shirt off on the beach. She had managed to go through three drawers in Meike's desk before the other girl had asked her to refrain in a very Earth type way and so Mihaela had. Her hair was wrapped on top of her head in a messy bun and the flannel pajama pants she'd borrowed (without permission) from drawers she'd rummaged through in Moritz's room hung off her hips loosely. She shrugged her shoulders and returned to where her friend was sitting with a little grin on her face and then plopped down on the fluffy bed. The room looked about how she had imagined it but there were some wild cards she hadn't expected in there, which made her smile. Returning her green eyes to the German witch who was so graciously hosting a perfectly annoying Romanian in her home Mihaela spoke abruptly.

"Gonna' tell me bout your summer or what? Is it awful?" She knew Meike was doing some kind of Russian Ministry Internship this summer but honestly she had no idea what all that entailed. If it was anyone other than Mei doing it Mihaela would have been less than interested, she might of even been verbally against hearing about it, but it was her friend and so she wanted to know all of the details. Bouncing a little on the bed she ran her fingers across the ornate stitching on the duvet. She was just about to open her mouth again, no doubt to spew out some other vocabulary disaster when the screech of an owl caught her off guard. Her hands went up to protect her face out of instinct as two brown owls flew in through the open door, probably coming from some open window in the Rosenthal home, each carrying a large package wrapped hazardously.

The two packages were dropped unceremoniously on the ground before the pair of girls and Miha didn't waste a moment jumping down to inspect them. She swatted at the owls circling and looking for a good place to land only so they could get a treat and probably bite one if not both of them and began tearing open the package. Inside of the brown paper was a tattered old broom and judging by the shape of the other package Miha assumed it contained the same type of item, hopefully in better condition. Assuming the pair of brooms were for the Rosenthal siblings Miha frowned up at Meike and blabbed her thoughts out loud without pause.

"Meike I don't think you're parents like you guys very much...."

@Meike Mia Rosenthal

"No, not awful," Meike said, half-smiling. She knew that most of her friends wouldn't have been able to cope with the pressure she'd been under this summer - and most of them wouldn't have wanted to. For Meike, though, the internship had basically been a break. When she didn't have to think about the hundreds of clubs she was a part of, quidditch, her Tsaritza duties or the perfect grades to maintain, Meike felt like she was having time off. Even at her internship. Even with her mother at home breathing down her neck about how many calories she was eating or how she needed to dress more like a lady or whatever else the woman thought Meike needed to do to attain perfection.

Meike didn't know if news on international wizarding legislation was interesting or not. She knew Miha would find it boring - Kristina certainly had - but even Meike wasn't sure if she was interested in the subject matter or if she was just being dutiful as usual. Maybe she just liked it because she liked having things like that that she knew, that others didn't. It was a safe place for her. The brunette checked the clock on the wall, awaiting a special sort of package. Finally, two owls came and dropped off two tattered old brooms.

"Surprise!" she said. Meike laughed at Miha's comment and tried not to overthink it too much. Sometimes her thoughts went to a dark place when she thought about her parents. "I ordered them last night, silly, they're portkeys to Germany's most expansive flying range. Figured I could show you some of our country's treasure's while you're here." Meike gave her friend a cool smile, waiting for the excited reaction. "We've got about fifteen minutes, better get some real clothes on."

Mihaela was indeed surprised by Meike's announcement that she had in fact ordered the brooms. Happy as a clam she giggled at Meike's cool enthusiasm and then took another look at the broom. They looked about as old as dirt and even less safe and that only made the Romanian witch more excited to use them. "Oh awesome, I'm bout to smoke you on this broom." She said with a competitive smirk that Meike could understand. It wasn't sparring but it wouldn't be the first time they'd gone head to head and Mihaela admired her friends perseverance. She wasn't even as dedicated to breathing as Meike was to pretty much everything that she did. Just thinking about how involved Meike was with all of everything exhausted the Lupesco witch and that was saying something.

Jumping up from where she had been inspecting the packages Mihaela looked around the floor of her friends room and chewed on her lip. At some point she had changed out of her clothes and into the borrowed ones but what had she done with her proper outfit? She scratched her head and moved about the room quickly, assuming she'd discarded them messily onto the floor. "Your room got a cleanin' charm on it?" She asked lazily turning to face Meike, assuming the organized witch had done away with the mess Miha had attempted to make in her perfect room.

"Can I borrow a shirt?" She wondered what the German's at the range would think of her showing up in boy's pajamas, would they send her packing? It wasn't exactly proper after all. After getting changed the tall witch secured the laces of her combat boots and stretched her arms out in front of her, preparing for the trip they were about to take. "Ready?"

"Oh really?" Meike replied coolly, cocking one eyebrow just a little. Meike was mostly competitive with herself rather than others, but Miha had a well-natured edge that brought a competitive side of her out like almost no one else could. She smiled though, because it was all in good fun. "There are racing tracks but also, you know, thestrals and hippogryffs and things. It's really pretty cool, actually," she said with a small nod. Meike watched curiously as Miha skirted around her room looking for clothes.

"Yeah of course," Meike replied, blinking a little. Their whole house had various types of cleaning charms on it; different ones for each room. Meike's mother had looked into getting a house elf but decided they were more trouble than they were worth, so someone came by once a week to magically clean the house. Not that it ever needed much work, of course. Meike and Moritz were very tidy teenagers. Disciplined in a way that didn't leave very much mess behind. "Just have a look in there," she said, gesturing to her cupboard. Meike was tiny, really. Not in height, but her waist and her flat chest and the distance from one side of her ribcage to the other were all so very small. Her clothes did not reflect this, however. Meike purposefully wore loose clothes to hide her skinny figure and the only things in her cupboard that were fitted were the clothes her mother picked out for her and made her wear to important functions and events. Those were shoved unceremoniously to one side, like irritating nuisances.

Soon, the girls were holding onto the brooms as they were transported through space to somewhere a little ways out of Berlin. The flying range was magically protected - of course - and covered far more ground than was really accessible in this area. It was magically expanded. The brunette led her friend to the front desk near where they appeared. "It's usually pretty busy on weekends in the holidays, but this doesn't seem to be so bad," She said, suveying the small crowd. Meike signed herself in, indicating for Miha to do the same. She'd already paid for her and her friend to be here today. "Where do you want to start? Hippogryff range?"

She'd grabbed a shirt from Meike's cabinet, it was long and flowy and totally did not form fit her torso and that made the Romanian a little uncomfortable. Unlike her friend she liked to wear tight clothing, mostly because it looked nice, but also because the less extra fabric that was flapping around the less a monster had to grab a hold of. Tugging on the back of the shirt she puffed out her chest and tried to arrange the fabric in an appealing sort of way before they took off into the portkey. She'd used enough of them during their time at the Durmstrang Institute of Magic that she was fairly comfortable with the idea. The actually application however, she would never quite grow used to. She was pretty sure no one ever could. It wasn't natural for physical bodies to be twisted and contorted and spun to a new location. At least it wasn't aparition though, that was even worse. Once her feet were on solid ground again she patted down her tussled hair and followed Meike to the sign up booth. The large white feather of the quill tickled the back of her hand as she scribbled her name onto the sign up sheet.

"Like you even need to ask." She said with an excited gleeful tone as she dropped the quill and looped her arm with Meike's. "Think they are mean?" She asked with more excitement and less fear than she really should of had as they approached the Hippogryff paddocks. "I heard they bite." She mimicked the biting nature of the beasts they were about to greet with her own mouth chomping down on thin air and giggled again. She really was excited for this whole adventure. Meike always had the best plans, they were even better than Marek's, not that she'd tell the other Krov that.

"Can we race them?" She asked the attendant who was tossing strips of raw meat to a couple of Hippogryffs that were standing in the center of the clearing. They seemed calm enough but Mihaela noted how their ears perked as the girls approached. She witnessed their feathers ruffle slightly, sticking up on end, and their alertness was not lost on the Romanian. She'd had enough experience with creatures back home that she knew exactly how critical the first few moments were. If they messed this up they would have a dangerous time trying to approach them. Mihaela stopped at least ten feet short of the creatures, standing near the attendant, and took a deep and slow bow. Her moves were deliberate, exactly the way that Oksana had taught them. She peeked out of closed eyes, head tilted to the side, to see if Meike was doing the same but also to make sure the Hippogryffs weren't charging at them.

Meike didn't react when Mihaela looped their arms together, but as she walked she couldn't help but compare. Rane had been affectionate too, in his own way, but he wasn't very forward about it. He kissed her, but he hardly ever went further than that. She'd always felt like he was waiting for her to give him cues, but she didn't know what to do to do it. It made her feel a little weird that she was more affectionate with her female friends than she had been with him. Kristina touched her back or arm affectionately and even Mihaela held her hand occasionally or linked their arms or put her arm around her. Meike felt confused about the way that it all worked; at what point did touching become more than touching? Could it ever be more, with another girl? She tried not to think about it as the pair approached their first range.

"Nah, I don't think we race them," Meike said with a half-smile. "I think they just sort of take us around, if they like us." The hippogriff range had a height limit and an age limit. It made sense, she thought. Meike knew that this particular range didn't chain their animals or keep them in with spells. The hippogriffs also weren't forced to take anyone they didn't like for a ride, which she appreciated.

Meike had always liked hippogriffs. She liked how regal they were. How stubborn. She bowed deeply, copying her friend but aiming her bow at a tall hippogriff with inky black feathers rather than the one that was looking at Miha. When it bowed back to her, Meike straightened up and made her way forward. "That's Marshmallow," the attendant told her dutifully. Meike reached out her hand to touch the thing, slow and steady at first and then with more enthusiasm as Marshmallow leant into her hand and started rubbing the top of its head against her fingers. "Are you itchy Marshmallow?" she cooed, scratching him behind his ears and shooting her friend a grin.

Meike liked dragons, but sometimes she wished Durmstrang had creatures like these instead. Hippogriffs were beautiful. After the introduction process, the attendant saddled their creatures up for them. Meike climbed onto Marshmallow's back and followed safety instructions as the creature took off into the air. She risked a glance back to see Miha flying a little behind her.